Friday, November 14, 2008

Argine: An Animation With Creativity On Its Mind

Julia Simeon has made a film called 'Argine.' It is a series of still images rendered in a 3D program and edited together. It's simple and beautiful. But what is it about? Watch first.


It is a film about the origins of creativity. It shows how originality is not the prime mover behind creative endeavor. Imitation is. The innocent drive to imitate that which inspires and excites is the primary force behind all art. That does not mean that one never does anything original. But the impulse to 'do something just like that!' should always be there throughout the creative life. To this day, I open a book or magazine, see a picture and think, 'Oh man! I want to take pictures just like those. Then I will change them to make something new!' I firmly believe in what this little film has to say. It is dead on the mark. Its creator has seen, admired, copied and created something of her own. That is the entire scope of all learning and education. It is honorable theft. The code of thieves and artists. Steal and learn.

I found this on No fat clips!!!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

London: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Here's a stop motion film made byDavid Hubert who is a Dreamworks animator. It was made by taking several thousand still images around the city of London and then editing them together with Adobe Premier and After Effects into a film. I like it's timing and the rush of action combined with the slow camera pans. I think it's more difficult to do than it would seem. However, if you take away the still images and replace them with a video camera shooting normal speed, what do you have? Why does the rush of activity and motion-streaked car lights make the film more interesting? Is it animation? No, probably not. I think to animate one must make something inanimate move. In fact, this is the opposite of animation. The motion of the objects has been reduced to a minimum.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Basement Horror: A Very Short Film

How about some horror? I always love a good horror film. That's why every Halloween I have my friends over for Horrorfest. We argue for days about what films will constitute our pile of DVDs. Then we stay up very late eating pizza and watching one horror film after another. This year, I made my own little horror film to run as a loop in my DVD player while everyone was just eating and talking. It's a very silly little horror film. I heartily recommend that everyone make their own little horror film. It's more fun than just about anything. And - get this - I think that the horror genre is the last great unexplored genre for serious artistic expression. I mean it. Watch carefully.